Twisted Love
by moviefan-92
Summary: Post-anime one-shot. Alternate ending to the series. Even though their enemies, Saemon has taken a liking to Hotarubi and decided to kidnap her. Using her mental instability against her, her twists her love for Yashamaru with the use of his abilities to his advantage. Bad Summary. This is a Dark-Fic. COMPLETE


**(A/N: This is very different from what I normally write, but it's an idea that came to me after watching the series, and it wouldn't leave me alone until it was written down. I warning you now, it's dark and could be considered disturbing, and it's not exactly happy. It's different from how the series ended. In this story, the Kouga won the war and not everyone died at the end.)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

"**TWISTED LOVE"**

Saemon Kisaragi was glad to be home. He'd left on a mission about two weeks ago for Gennosuke Kouga, the leader of the Kouga clan. It wasn't anything serious, but it had been time consuming, and he was glad to have gotten it out of the way and return to the Kouga Village.

He stopped at the main house to give his report to the clan leader and his wife, Oboro. Saemon frowned in minor disgust as he looked at Gennosuke's pregnant wife. She was, or had been, the leader of the Iga tribe before marrying Gennosuke.

Saemon didn't have anything against Oboro personally; it was the fact that she was of Iga blood that he didn't like. The Iga had been the sworn enemy of the Kouga for centuries. Only when Hattori Hanzō the First wrote up a no hostility treaty did the fighting stop. But the treaty had come to an end when Ieyasu Tokugawa decided to retire. To decide which of his two grandsons would become the next Shogun, ten warriors from both the Kouga and Iga were selected to fight to the death, each grandson favoring a different clan. Whichever clan was victorious, the grandson that supported them would become the new Shogun.

The Iga had resulted to trickery to defeat the Kouga, and they managed to kill quite a few Kouga before the dissolving of the no hostilities treaty was even known. But while the Kouga sought to find the reason for this war, some even reluctant, yet still willing, to fight, the Iga cared less about the reason and simply wanted the bloodshed, attempting to kill off the Kouiga during their journey to find answers.

During the journey, the Iga had attacked, killing off a few more Kouga, but the Kouga came out victorious in the end when they retaliated, managing to kill off the rest of the Iga, including Tenzen Yakushiji, the Iga's supposedly immortal second in command. He had been killed by none other than Oboro, who chose Gennosuke over her people.

After that, Oboro forfeited any chance for victory and declared the Kouga the victors of the war, though she and one other still remained. Gennosuke ordered for there to be no more killing, having never wanted the bloodshed that the Iga and some of the Kouga wanted.

It was because Oboro was different that Saemon was able to tolerate her. Though he didn't think he'd ever be able to accept her completely, as was the case with the rest of the Kouga, he didn't hold complete hatred for her. Besides, he wanted Genosuke to be happy. He just wished that it wasn't with a former Iga.

Unfortunately, that made him a bit of a hypocrite. The last of the Iga ten was under his care, for lack of a better word. And he was on his way to see them now, anxious to be home once again.

"I'm home." He said, entering his house.

He was greeted by his beautiful wife, the only other survivor of the Iga Ten. Her eyes lit up with love that mixed with obsession.

"Saemon, welcome back, my love." She said, bowing to her husband respectfully.

Saemon smiled and walked over to her. "It's good to be back, Hotarubi."

She suddenly threw herself into his arms, embracing him tightly and lovingly. Saemon returned the hug, stroking her hair. He had first met her a little over five years ago during the war when he infiltrated the Iga Village. As a ninja, Saemon possessed a very special ability. He was able to copy the appearance of others.

Before meeting Hotarubi, he and Gyoubu Kasumi, God rest his soul, had brawled with Yashamaru of the Iga. After killing the cocky young man, Saemon had copied his appearance and entered the Iga Village wearing his face. That was when he met Hotarubi for the first time.

It hadn't taken him long to realize that Hotarubi and Yashamaru had been in love. In fact, Hotarubi's love had been so obsessive that it bordered on insanity. Thinking Saemon was really Yashamaru, she had showered him with love and affection. And regardless of the fact that she was Iga, Saemon had felt something as she poured out her heart to him, not knowing he was a Kouga in disguise.

Of course, the deception hadn't lasted. Eventually Saemon's true identity had been discovered, as had the truth about Yashamaru's death. Hotarubi had been devastated, slipping further into insanity and in complete denial about the fact that Yashamaru was now dead.

Still, Saemon couldn't help but feel drawn to her. He didn't know why. Of course, there was still the hatred for the Iga, especially after they killed his sister, Okoi, but for some reason, he felt some form of affection for the Iga woman. It was for this reason that he decided not to kill her when he came to her disguised as Nenki Mino of the Iga. Rather than ending her life, he knocked her out and took her prisoner.

He told himself that he wasn't being merciful, that what he had planned for her would be a fate worse than death, and he was merely punishing a filthy Iga for killing his people, especially his sister.

Even as he had told himself that, the events that led up to the present, where Hotarubi kissed him passionately, and he enthusiastically responded, proved otherwise. She tore at his clothes, desperate to feel skin on skin contact. His own hands slipped to the knot holding her kimono closed and undid it as she pulled him down onto their futon.

"Hideki?" he asked, referring to their one year old son as he placed kisses along her bare breasts.

"Asleep in the other room." Hotarubi told him, pressing his face into her bosom. "He won't wake. Please, my love, don't make me wait."

Saemon resumed placing kisses and love bites along her chest as he reached down between her legs to her center, earning him an exciting moan from the woman he was ravishing. It had taken a long time to get him and Hotarubi to where they were now, but it was worth it, even though it was, in a sense, based on a farce.

Saemon wasn't a cruel person, but what he'd done to her would be considered cruel by many others. When he first started out, he told himself that it was revenge for what the Iga did to Okoi and the rest of his people, but he would be lying if he said it was the only reason. He'd made the decision as he spoke to her disguised as Nenki. He had decided that he wanted her and wanted to keep her, and so he had.

Of course, there was the fact that Hotarubi completely and utterly despised him along with the rest of the Kouga, especially after the death g Yashamaru. But Saemon had used the fact that she was borderline insane to his advantage. That and her obsessive love for Yashamaru, and her denial of his death.

It was his ability to impersonate others that served his purpose. When the war was over and the Kouga were declared the victors, Saemon had kept Hotarubi locked in a house in the Kouga Village. Then, wearing Yashamaru's face, he'd gone to her.

Hotarubi may have been mentally unstable, but she was still rational. She had been told that Yashamaru was dead, yet she had never laid eyes on his body. So it didn't take long for her to believe that Saemon truly was the real Yashamaru and that he actually was alive and well. She had been cautious at first, but her original denial of his death combined with her mental instability soon allowed her to fully accept that Saemon was her former fiancé and that he was still alive.

From there, it had been a slow process, but it had happened. Saemon had started with the name. Every time he saw Hotarubi, he very slowly changed his name. Over the months, Yashamaru soon became 'Yashma', then 'Shama', and 'Shamon', until finally she called him Saemon, and had her completely convinced that this was his name and had been all along. In her warped mind, the name of the person she loved was no longer Yashamaru, but Saemon. The process had then been repeated with the last name as well.

Next came his appearance. This process took longer, but was easier for her to adjust to. He still wore Yashamaru's face, but over the months, he very slowly began changing his features to his real face every time he saw her. It was like the process of watching a child grow up. It was so gradual and spread out over time, that one day you realize that you were no longer a child, but an adolescent, and eventually a grown up.

And so it was with his features. He slowly shifted back to normal over the months, each time taking on more and more of his own appearance and less and less of Yashamaru's until he was able to have his true face around her, and she still believed that this man was the one she loved, both in body and in name, not noticing the transition.

Of course, his identity wasn't the only thing he had to convince her of. She may have been partly insane, but Hotarubi wasn't stupid. She wanted to know why she was not allowed to leave the house. Saemon hadn't lied to her about that. He told her that they were prisoners in the Kouga Village. Predictably, she suggested escaping numerous times, but he was able to talk her out of it, normally by telling her that they wouldn't make it out alive, and he did not want to risk it, but he assured her that he had something in mind.

The last part was a lie, of course, but Hotarubi never once doubted him. She completely refused to leave without him and feared losing him too much that she wouldn't press the issue when he told her that it wasn't the right time to escape.

His entire deception took over two years before he was able to appear to her as he truly was, and with his own name. And eventually, he allowed her to exit the house she had remained imprisoned in. His reason was that there was now permanent peace between the Kouga and the Iga, which came to pass through Gennosuke and Oboro's marriage.

Hotarubi was not happy about it, but she accepted it all the same. Yet when she expressed her desire for wanting to return to the Iga Village, Saemon had told her that this was not an option. His excuse for this was that the two of them were to never return to the Iga Village as a precaution so the war would not start up again. He said that others were worried that since the two of them had been so directly involved in the war that they might try to start it up again if they returned to their people. They were to stay and guard Oboro and were to never, under any circumstances, come into contact with anyone of the Iga.

Of course, being in the Kouga Village was far from comforting to Hotarubi. She was constantly on guard and facing harassment from certain villagers. That is, until Gennosuke put a stop to it. He declared that any hostility or harassment towards Hotarubi would be treated as an act against Oboro as well. This immediately stopped all forms of abuse.

And so, Hotarubi stayed in the Kouga Village with Saemon, loving him unconditionally, lost in her own little fantasy world, never once suspecting that their relationship was built on deception. Saemon never mistreated her in any way, though there were times, mostly when he thought about what was done to Okoi, that he became short with her. He still wanted her though, and he treated her as he would any woman he became involved with, and soon genuinely came to care for her.

He wasn't able to keep their relationship a secret, and he knew he wouldn't. Gennosuke eventually discovered what he was doing, and he made it clear that he did not approve. But Saemon was able to convince him to keep silent about his deception, mostly by using the death of Okoi and the rest of the Kouga to guilt trip Gennosuke. He declared that this was their vengeance, and that he had a right to avenge Okoi the way he saw fit. The only other option would be to kill her. But he expressed his desire to want to keep Hotarubi for himself, and that twisting her love was a form of revenge for his sister.

Gennosuke was not happy about it. Though he remained silent, he wanted Saemon to know that he was completely disgusted by what he was doing, but Saemon didn't care. Shortly after, Oboro was informed that he and Hotarubi were together, but she was not told of how it came to be, and was advised to stay out of it, and to never mention Yashamaru.

Poor naïve Oboro never thought ill of the situation. As far as she was concerned, the love between Saemon and Hotarubi was completely innocent, and they were simply facing the same hardships that she and Gennosuke had faced. Of course, she had been curious as to how Hotarubi had been able to come to love a the man partly responsible for Yashamaru's death, but Saemon had told her that he had simply helped her get through the hard time and they fell for each other during it.

Oboro believed the lie. She was simply thrilled that Hotarubi was alive and that she found love 'again'. And she agreed that Yashamaru must never be mentioned out of fear of causing Hotarubi to snap.

But the name Yashamaru meant nothing to Hotarubi anymore. As far as she was concerned, her fiancé's name was Saemon all along, and he had always looked the way he did now. The only concern Saemon had even had about Oboro talking about Yashamaru was that he was worried that Hotarubi would come to realize that he and the dead Iga ninja weren't the same person after all.

But he didn't need to concern himself with it. His deception had worked perfectly. Hotarubi, and her love, was now his. And a few months after he had brought her out of the house for the first time, he and Hotarubi were married. Never had he seen her so happy. She wept tears of joy, declaring over and over again how much she loved him. And she showed him at every opportunity, both in words and touch. A few years later, their son had been born.

And so, life went on. Saemon had Hotarubi and she had him. And as she arched her back, screaming in ecstasy, Saemon was glad that he took her captive that day and deceived her rather than taking her life. He brushed her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead aside, he leaned down and kissed her, looking into her beautiful eyes shining with so much love. Love for _him_, even though she technically thought he was another man, it was still for him. He'd completely twisted her love for someone else to make it his own, and now she loved him.

And he loved her too.

**THE END**

**(A/N: That's the end. I told you it was dark and disturbing, but not all of my writing can be sweet and happy. Saemon took advantage of Hotarubi's love for Yashamaru completely twisted to make her love him. I know they were sworn enemies, but I couldn't help but notice some chemistry between them, and Saemon _did_ seem to have some affection for her, which is what gave me the idea for this fic. So, tell me how it was.)**


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